Breaking Radio Silence

Alright, I'm doing it.  I'm breaking radio silence!  I'm so very happy to say that my decision to shush paid off; that my feeling like I should just keep quiet and NOT talk about the last IUI was a good one.  I am currently 11 weeks and 4 days pregnant!!!!!  To give you the run-down on my symptoms thus far, I am feeling really well, have not thrown up (close once this past Monday @2am...baby doesn't like fried fish), and have no complaints whatsoever.  I'm considering myself lucky.  I have had some headaches here and there, and a little nausea if I let my stomach get too empty...but that doesn't happen much anymore, since I'm basically starving in Japan every 2 hours!!  In the beginning, I had a lot of cramping when my uterus was expanding for the first time but it wasn't unbearable.  The most prominent symptom, the one that happens most often, is the feeling like something is crawling on my boobs.  Getting graphic, it starts at the middle and "crawls" to the nipple area.  That happens several times a day and it's not a big deal, but sure was weird the first few times!!  The other "boob thing" is terrible, though...every once in awhile, I get this feeling that I can only describe as a combination of a mammogram and fire ants gnawing on my nipple.  But only the left one.  It comes on suddenly, stays for about 10-20 minutes, and then stops.  It's excruciating and nothing helps.  Other than that, nothing much.

So far, we've had 1 ultrasound (see photo below) and just got to hear the heartbeat for the first time this past week.  How awesome that was!  Once the doctor found it, she looked up at me but I wasn't looking at her.  All I could do was smile and look at my dear husband.  It was truly amazing.  But once the machine picked up how many beats per minute, she stopped doing it and I didn't even get a chance to cry about it!  That's unusual for me...especially in my current "condition"!  It was beating at a rapid 178 bpm.  The old wives' tale says that anything under 140 is a boy and over 140 is a girl, but there really isn't any merit to it...but it's fun to guess.  Most doctors will say that when a heart rate is higher, it means baby is more active...so come kicking time, I'm going to be bruised constantly, I think!!  :)  I go back next month for another check up, when she'll listen to the heartbeat again and the following month, when I'm 19 weeks, we'll have another ultrasound.  This is when we can find out the gender if we want and provided baby cooperates.  Hubby wants to find out and I was adamant I didn't until birth.  I wanted the surprise at the end.  Now, I'm doubting myself and because I'm so darn impatient (believe me, keeping silent this whole time knowing I was pregnant was REALLY tough!), I probably will want to know by August!!  It won't change how we decorate the nursery, since we have some really nice neutral colors and a cute crib set picked out.  I guess I have time to think about it.

 May 11, 2011: @6 weeks gestation.  The gestational sac is present, as is the yolk sac, with our little nugget dangling underneath. We were able to see the heart, having just developed the week before, flickering away like there's no tomorrow!   :)

As you may have noticed, I have changed the name of my blog to reflect the recent changes.  One of our nicknames (we have 3!) for the baby is "Nugget".  I will probably change the look soon too.  I probably won't update daily; more than likely, I will update weekly.  I have also added a ticker with information about what baby's doing that week.

Thanks to everyone for all the support over these long years; it was Hell but we made it through.  God has truly blessed us and we couldn't be more thankful.